Ocean Friendly Garden at Arcadia EcoHome

Description

Arcadia EcoHome, located in the tributury area of San Gabriel River, is a Build It Green’s Green Point Rated home, the 1st such home in Southern California in the Existing Home- Whole House category. It includes a ground that is integrated with the green building itself. The ground is made of the following components:

1. Parkway in the street public right of way- Planted & maintained by us, it is covered by 2 types of drought-tolerated Aeonium & 3 huge Magnolias which shade the sidewalk and a part of roadways.
2. East front yard- A desert garden mainly featured with a variety of cactus, agaves & sedums, a Mediterranean garden mainly featured with a variety of roses, Pelargonium, philodendrons, palms, birds of paradise & bananas; a paved driveway with a Gravelpave covered parking area. The yard is edged & unified with an 18” block wall & Euryops Viridis in front and fenced with Ligustrum Toxanum on the sides.
3. West rear yard- A wastewater garden edged by Agapanthus covered by a deciduous Wisteria-climbed trellis to shade the house, a vegetable garden, an orchard garden with a variety of fruit trees, a gravel paved area between the orchard garden and the building.
4. North side yard- An auto court fenced by a line of bamboos and anchored & shaded by a huge oak tree.
5. South side yard- A wildlife corridor connecting front and rear yards planted with ground covers, shrubs and a line of deciduous Redbud trees which also shade the building in the summer & permit direct solar gain in winter.
6. Central court- Bamboos in pock planters planted & drought tolerate plants in pots.

Overall, the vegetated ground is local food sources for human & other beings, and is wildlife, pollinator & ocean friendly. It is a Victory garden registered with Victory Garden Foundation and a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. The ocean friendly features are as following:

Conservation
• Turf- No lawn in the entire ground, not even in the parkway (went through an appeal process to get City’s public work staff to ok). Therefore is no need to mow & use chemical fertilizer, and meanwhile it saves a lot of energy & water.
• Irrigation- Drip irrigation system has been installed for the front & rear yard. The only sprinkler system installed in the property is on the roof for the purpose to wash occasionally the roof-mounted PV & solar water panels and to cool the roof tiles, and the wash water is collected for irrigation by rain water harvest system. Hand water the parkway.
• Mulch- All dropped & trimmed leaves are kept on site to cover all dirt surface in planting areas so as to reduce to be hauled-away trash, to prevent weed growth, to maintain moisture, to create a bio-friendly layer for fungus & wildlife, and to be natural fertilizer for plants.
• Plants- Diversified planting to support bio-diversity, used draught tolerated, native & adapted plants to save water & sustain native species.
• Watering- With different level of water demand, the Mediterranean & desert plants in front yard are separated in 2 hydrozones, and watered by a drip irrigation system turned on manually on as needed basis. A timer-controlled drip irrigation system waters the vegetable & orchard garden in the rear yard, and the timer is setbacked according to seasonal precipitation. Rainwater & gray water are also used for watering plants to reduce the need for portable water.
• Energy- In addition to energy saving through water saving, energy efficiency and renewable energy are used for outdoor lighting: Low-voltage garden light is used in front yard, solar garden light is in rear yard, & compact florescent light is in all building mounted exterior lighting fixtures which is powered by a roof mounted PV system. No swimming pool or any pools in the yard.
• Fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides- Not used at all. The entire vegetated ground including vegetable & orchard gardens are organic gardens for healthy consumption by human & other beings.
• Gas-powered maintenance machinery- Not used at all to avoid air pollutants. In fact the vegetated ground is densely planted with 500+ trees, shrubs & vines to form a small forest that serves as a carbon sink.
• Wildlife habitat- The vegetated ground is a National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat #113,594
Permeability
• Healthy living soil- As stated in the Mulch section, all droped & trimmed leaves are kept for sheet composting with a layer of mulch covering all planting area. The composted leaves become natural fertilizer, and the layer maintains moisture, creates a bio-friendly environment for fungus, and support sustainable living for insects & other species.
• Permeable hardscape- The driveway along north side yard from rear yard to front yard has 3 cut-in areas in-filled with gravels/broken red floor & roof tiles (reuse of construction wastes) for in-take stormwater sheet flow from rear yard to street.

Retention
• Rain barrels- Total 7 rain barrels are strategically located around the house to capture and store rainwater through gutters & downspouts from the entire roof for irrigation purpose. Under-sink 3-way valves are installed to re-direct flow of gray water either directly to planters or to rain barrels.
• Retention basins at the end of site yards- Site yards are graded to facilitate sheet flow from rear yard to a shallow retention basin at each end of the front yard to temporary store rain water. Driveway along north property line turns at an angle in the front yard to make room for a rain garden with the north basin. A drain line sends rain water collected by a floor drain in the Central Court to the south basin.
• A 18” block wall erected at the front property line to prevent runoff to sidewalk.
• The GravelPave area in front yard serves as an overflow parking as well as a runoff storage & infiltration area from paved driveway & walkway.
• The gravel area in between the building and the organic orchard garden serves as a runoff storage & infiltration area from the rear yard.
• The layer of leaves on ground serves as a sponge to absorb & maintain moisture.

Community Sharing
• Arcadia EcoHome and its ground is designed, built and maintained by Dr. Edward Huang, AICP, CGBP, LEED, and house Huang’s residence & business, the California Institute of Environmental Design & Management (CIEDM), a private center specialized in providing education, research, consultancy & advocacy services in sustainable development. CIEDM has provided free educational workshops & meetups to its neighbors & friends on various environmental subjects, including its annual Arbor Day & Earth Day Workshop since 2005. Garden related CIEDM events in the past 2 months include:
• To celebrate the National Pollinator Week on June 20-26, 2011, CIEDM held a Meetup with its volunteers & guests in the afternoon on Saturday, 25 June, to work on maintaining and enhancing pollinator attractions in the yards and identify types of pollinators.
• CIEDM held its 2 Meetups in the week of June 4-11 with a small group of guests & neighbors to celebrate the World Environment Day on June 5, World Ocean Day on June 8 & National Get Outdoors Day on June 11. Information of Ocean Friendly gardens are shared in the meetups and the OFG features installed in Arcadia EcoHome’s garden were inspected & maintained in the meetups.
• On May 13 CIEDM held its 2nd Annual Workshop on 350 Garden Challenge, Endangered Species & Biological Diversity. Attendants included Girl Scouts Troop 13921, twelve 4th & 5th grade girls of Holly Ave. and Camino Grove Elementary Schools, Arcadia Unified School District, their leaders & parents and other CIEDM guests. Total 19 participants.